MARTIN Taylor today spoke for the first time about the tackle that catapulted him to national infamy.

The Birmingham City defender admitted that he and his family have endured a difficult week after the incident in Saturday's match against Arsenal.

But he stressed his main concern was the welfare of Eduardo, who was left with a broken leg and a dislocated left ankle.

The Croatia striker faces at least nine months out of football although, thankfully, is expected to make a full recovery.

Taylor, who was sent-off after the challenge just three minutes into the 2-2 draw, was absolved of blame by Eduardo from his hospital bed when he went to see him.

It was gesture Taylor, 28, described as 'noble'.

"It has been difficult, the whole incident on Saturday shook me and my family," said Taylor, who chose to break his silence to the Birmingham Mail.

"But I have had a lot of support that has helped me through a difficult time. I have had support publicly and privately.

"I have had great support from my manager Alex McLeish, my team mates and Birmingham fans as well as supporters across the country, including those from Arsenal.

"I also want to thank ex-managers and also friends coming round to my house or talking to me. It has been exceptionally helpful.

"It has been a strange situation. I've been kind of looking in from the outside, watching the news, reading the papers. It feels like it's been happening to someone else. But it's very real.

"I will be really happy the day when I see he is back in the Arsenal and the Croatia line-up and when he is scoring goals again. The injury was terrible enough.

"When he gets back to fitness and he puts the ball in the net for Arsenal for the first time we will all feel much better. People will be able to see that accidents like these are the nature of football and you can recover from it."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's post-match comments, when he said Taylor should be banned for life, caused a huge stir and contributed to a hysterical, and in some cases, extreme response.

Taylor was subject to death threats - Blues have passed on more than 80 to police - which naturally disturbed Taylor, a quiet family man and father of three young boys.

The majority of them came from Croatia fans who are angry that their star player will now miss the summer European Championship.

Taylor was dubbed the 'Butcher of Birmingham' by them and their media, and an Internet campaign has been waged against him.

Taylor, who has been backed by former managers Steve Bruce and Graeme Souness amongst others, said: "I have had supportive emails from people in all walks of life who have been involved in similar sporting incidents.

"On the other side of it, there are people who look at it very differently. Hopefully that's just a minority of people who are angry, for whatever reason.

"On the Internet people can say things and there is no accountability. Getting death threats, it is difficult to cope with, for my family to cope with.

"I hope it will be forgotten about. People move on. But this week has been difficult."